Every New Year is the Worst: Climate Change in 2015.

Will 2015 see the world’s nations begin to turn things around?

Climate change is more urgent, as each year passes with no serious action on the part of the world’s worst polluters.

Did the summit in Lima, a prelude to the summit in Paris, bring hope? China, the US, Russia, and India—in that descending order—remain the world’s worst per-capita emitters.

But Canada is the 9th. And in spite of Prime Minister Harper’s on-going denial, scientists in Canada can actually see that the amount of vital sun-reflecting snow and ice in the Arctic has reached record lows.

Because the causes of climate-change are cumulative, every new year that does not produce a coordinated international effort becomes the “worst year” on the climate change record.

The good news is that opposition to pipelines within Canada is mounting. The locally affected communities, so often native communities that have not been consulted, are the ones who care enough to protest. There have been anti-pipeline demonstrations in encampments in British Columbia, and continued opposition to the so-called Energy East in Atlantic Canada.

Opposition has centered on a range of concerns from the general about climate change to the specific—like concern over the beluga habitat in Quebec’s St. Lawrence River. The violation and protection of the rights of First Nations, the risky impact of pipeline conversion, growing concerns that potential oil spills will destroy the water and land the pipelines must cross, and, not the least, the decline in crude prides over the past six months—these all call into question the demand for the new and expensive pipeline infrastructure and make renewable sources of energy look even more bright and reasonable.

Why then send dirty Alberta oil to the East, West, and US Gulf Coasts? There is no longer any sane, green, or profitable reason to do so!

So, want to make a Green New Year’s Resolution? Pick your own: no more coffee to-go cups (bleached paper, plastic), ride a bike/bus/walk once a week or more often, better insulate your home, used upcycled materials for a project, get rid of junk mail…what’s your resolution? Comment below.

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Author: Linda Lewis

Editor: Catherine Monkman / Waylon Lewis